To Be A Family Man
by kalebxdd
Summary: Vegeta ends up becoming a family man after years of Bulma's nurturing. But the real challenge arises when Bulma's age catches up to her. Can Vegeta take care of his grey princess?


**Hey!**

 **With all the Vegeta character development that we've been getting in Super recently I just couldn't pass this idea up. I hope you'll like it.**

 **Now please read, review and enjoy!**

...

He's five and he believes that the universe lies at his feet, waiting for him to pluck the fruits of its labor and claim his rightful place within the ranks of greatness. He understands that he is destined to become someone to behold and fear. His father confirms this belief whenever he can, because The Saiyan King is also convinced that their race is the most powerful and destructive.

As they stand by the window of their spacecraft King Vegeta beckons his son at his side. The child does as he is bid, listening only to his father. Others are below him and don't deserve his attention.

"In front of us we can see Frieza planet 441," the King says, his deep voice echoing in a slow drawl. "It bears the name of another, but remember, my son, it is the Saiyan race that conquered it. It was the Saiyans that made the inhabitants tremble with fear. Simply the promise of our arrival is enough of a threat for entire planets to surrender. Never forget that."

And he never will. His Saiyan pride will remain with him, even if other parts of his heritage will eventually fade into oblivion.

...

He is eighteen and he hurdles through the depths of space in search for planets to purge and sell. Frieza is growing restless and Vegeta can almost see the cloud growing over his superior's head. It is quite satisfying to behold. To know that even Frieza cannot always get what he wants soothes the Prince.

Nappa keeps squabbling through the scouter. Vegeta ignores him and sets his thoughts to other matters. The gears in his head are trying to figure out a way to reclaim what has always been his, but what has been stolen from him.

Thirteen years ago Frieza murdered his father. The man who had promised him the universe and what lay beyond. It had been more than a reality check. What he had perceived as the truth had fallen to smithereens and it had been impossible to scavenge all the pieces back together. But it had also lit a fire inside him, flames of pride burning deep inside him and driving him towards a stronger version of himself.

One day he will learn that Frieza has fallen at the hands of a Saiyan. That knowledge will then be enough to close off a chapter of his life that had seemed to never end. He is very much convinced that he will be the one to bring Frieza to what he thinks is justice. But not yet, for he isn't powerful enough. That realisation stings deeply, but it is followed by an understanding brought on by some of his earliest memories.

His father may not have been correct about the strength of the Saiyans, but he had been right about his own child. Vegeta would rise above and conquer.

...

At the age of thirty Vegeta is once more shaken to his core. After the deaths of Raditz and Nappa, he is the only Saiyan to remain in the universe. Kakarot is not worthy of being considered a Saiyan. He does not possess the killing drive that is second nature to the race, instead choosing to protect rather than to overthrow.

Vegeta resents the sight of the man. His belief of what a Saiyan should be is still very much what it has always been. Kakarot doesn't just defy this; he spits in its face and leaves it for dead. Vegeta will not have it.

Yet when Vegeta displays his power by evaporating Nappa, Kakarot does not budge, not even the slightest bit. It actually makes the third-grade bastard smile. As if they were having a friendly play-fight. Only then can Vegeta see their shared line of heritage behind Kakarot's eyes. But that is not enough to sway him. Only he himself can attest to what a true Saiyan is; fearless, restless and without compassion. Kindness will only be the death of him.

And in the end he loses. Though his power is greater and his wits are sharper, he still has to flee in defeat. It crumbles something inside of him. It chips away at his pride, something that even the death of his father couldn't accomplish. Kakarot has wounded him and the scars are never going to fade away.

Never.

...

Not three months after his defeat at the hands of a lower class and his child and friend, Vegeta is lying on the grounds of Namek, feeling the life seep out of him with every heave of his chest. Death is coming for him and it won't listen to his pleas.

The trip to Namek has been strange. He came here with thoughts of immortality on his mind, much the same as when he had gone to Earth. And while the desire had lingered during his days on the green planet, they had shifted from greed to necessity. He had needed to become immortal in order to stay alive, not just to kill Frieza and reclaim his birthright.

That birthright that has been promised to him for so long is nothing but a lie. He understands this as the edges of his vision begin to turn black. He was never meant to be a ruler. He wasn't cut out for unimaginable power. Those were things that only existed in stories for children. His father had fed him with these tales with full conviction, not seeing the stupidity of his own words.

The only conviction that Vegeta cannot seem to shed is that Frieza will die at the hands of one of his race. He still knows this to be the truth. And when Kakarot's shadow falls over him and shields him from the Suns' glare, he smiles. Now he can let out his dying breath with a feeling of peace. A lifetime of misery turns to happiness as the thought of Frieza's demise. His Saiyan pride had been right all along.

...

He does not understand what is going on. Something is covering him so he shakes it off. When his eyes open they wander across the desolate wasteland that now is Namek, robbed of its green and serenity. Thunderclouds pepper the sky and withdraw the Suns from view. There is a palpable feeling of power in the air. And he is alive.

Vegeta's mind finds it difficult to understand this. Rational thinking tells him that a wish has been made with the Dragon Balls. But why he has been granted another chance is beyond him. The only person in this universe who would want to see him alive is himself.

He begins to laugh now. His heart fills with happiness. He has yet another opportunity to shift the tides of fate into his favor. As his power pumps through his veins he feels it swell beyond its capacity. He has grown stronger once more. He has purpose again.

...

That strange, blue-haired woman has offered him a place to stay. He cannot for the life of him understand why she would do such a thing. He has threatened her life and had her friends killed. And this doesn't even seem to faze her. She just spits remarks at him when he tries to make sense of it all.

He takes her up on the offer. He can use a roof over his head and a steady place to feed and sleep. Now that Frieza is no longer alive his mind is free of worries. He no longer desires to be the ruler of all. The only thing that he wants now is to surpass Kakarot. Vegeta's pride is hurt that he no longer is the strongest Saiyan. It is inconceivable that Kakarot has reached a level of strength thought to be mythological. But if the idiot can do it, so can he.

The woman makes the days drag by with her nagging, expecting him to act like a proper guest. He ignores her as much as he can, but she slips into his mind when he least expects her to. She fascinates him. She is the first woman to not back down when he uncrosses his arms and glares. She simply doesn't fear him.

He begins to think about her even in her absence. When he is away from the planet he wonders how she will respond if he crashes his ship into her backyard. He entertains himself with thoughts of her in the shower. It can't be helped; she is very attractive after all. He is not too proud to admit that.

The Saiyan Prince is changing. No longer does he hold the belief that an entire race is destined to change the shape of fate. He alone will do so, with Kakarot lagging behind him. Unfortunately he is going to need the idiot as a driving mechanism. But one day they will fight it out and Vegeta will prove that the stories that he has begun to shun are actually all true. These thoughts only mill in his mind when he is at the edge of sleep. They are a bother at any other time, not to mention that yearning for years past registers in him as a sign of weakness.

And he is anything but weak.

...

The boy. Vegeta feels his blood boiling at the memory. Another Super Saiyan. Impossible.

He is storing up anger again. Vegeta has spent a year cleaning up the remnants of the Cold Empire, only for Frieza to return even stronger than he was before. And a young boy chopped through Vegeta's mortal enemy like it was nothing. It's infuriating.

So he trains and trains, all the while feeling the woman's eyes drilling holes in the back of his skull. It annoys him and he asks her more than once to leave him alone, but she refuses. In the end he just lets her be; she is only an irritation, not a threat.

Even with a year having passed she is still on his mind more than he wishes. His attraction to her is strong, he understands this perfectly well. He also knows that it is merely a thing of the body, a desire to release pent up hormones. Perhaps he can sway her into letting him one day, but that day won't come for long. First he has to see to other things.

He cannot allow two Super Saiyans to exist without him being one of them.

...

Pain encompasses all. Every nerve is aflame and each muscle screams when he moves it. He doesn't remember much more than an explosion, followed by the pain he is now feeling.

His eyes flutter open to study his surroundings. He is in what seems to be a medical room. He is tied to machines and wrapped in bandages. Someone has tried to patch him up and clean the mess that he made. He doesn't care to find out who.

Yet surprise strikes him when he sees the woman, Bulma is her name, sleeping by his bedside. She is still holding some of the bandages that she used to tie him up. Vegeta's brow furrows as he tries to make sense of her reasoning. He has done nothing but be aggressive towards her and never has he given her his thanks. Not that she should expect it, but still.

A stupid thought crossed his mind. She's done this because she recognizes him and the royalty that he is, she understands that he is a force to be reckoned with. He dismisses the statement as soon as it arises. This woman wouldn't budge for anyone, not for him, not for Frieza, no one.

And suddenly he finds himself admiring her for more than her great body.

...

He keeps waking up in strange rooms. This time it's a bedroom. The difference this time is that he knows how he ended up here.

Vegeta rolls onto his side and sees Bulma. Sleep has taken her and a smile is playing her lips. Vegeta feels the exact opposite. He feels stupid. Bulma has managed to lure him in with her sensuality and strong-headedness. While these are things that he appreciates about her, he despises the idea of developing feelings for her. He is a solitary being and he will remain so until the day he dies. It is one of those unavoidable things written in the stars.

Tomorrow he will leave her. He might not come back. He needs to banish her from his life before he makes another stupid decision. The choice made, he rolls back and drifts asleep.

...

So he is a weakling after all. He had been able to keep his promise to himself almost a year and a half. He has stayed away from Bulma and as the months dragged by he could've sworn that she was fading from his mind.

But when the time comes to return to Earth and fight his greatest challengers yet, he sees her again and his heart skips a beat. His face and posture betray nothing, but inside he is a wreck. Not just because he is immediately drawn back into her elusive orbit, but because she is holding a child that resembles him oh so much.

He is a father now.

Of course he acts as if it doesn't affect him. He has to. King Vegeta only showed interest in his child because of the fighting potential. And with an earthling mother chances were that Trunks, as she had called him, wouldn't be able to fight his way out of a wet paper bag. And even if he would be a prodigy like Kakarot's son, there was no way in seven hells that Bulma would allow him to teach their child how to fight.

This meteor shower of emotions passes through him in the first thirty seconds of ever seeing his child. It is unlike him to feel so afflicted, but it doesn't surprise him. Years on Earth have softened his edges. He won't accept this fact so easily, even going as far as forsaking himself when Babidi comes along, but it is still the truth. He is going to need a few years to adjust to this mindset, but eventually he will.

Learning that the boy from the future is also his son helps this acceptance. After training with Trunks in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber Vegeta begins to realize that his new path might just be the right one. He has a son that he is proud of, a mate which he has now claimed for himself. Even the people who died at his command have warmed up to him.

And when Trunks dies the rage that explodes from him is the absolute confirmation. He likes the Earth. He enjoys his life here and he tolerates the people that come along with it. Though Bulma is beginning to sneak her way into a soft spot in his heart.

...

Years come to pass and his son is now growing up. Last year Vegeta was responsible for the death of thousands, falling back into a line of thinking that had long since become unnatural to him. But he shakes it off in the end and even sacrifices himself to protect others. Dying to protect, something he wouldn't have dreamed of ever doing twenty years prior.

And why did he do it?

It hurts to just think of the words, but when he does allow them to take shape he knows them to be the truth. He had forsaken his own life for theirs because he loved them. He loved his wife and child.

So when Beerus slaps Bulma it is almost like Trunks's death all over again. Something inside of him snaps and rises to the surface with ferocity that even catches the God of Destruction off guard.

Such is Vegeta's love for his family.

When another child comes into his life he understands that he will never be his old self again. She will not be a fighter like her brother and father, but her eyes sparkle with the same devilish kind of glee that seems to be a family thing. He might not crack a smile in front of everyone, but his heart is overflowing with joy. This little bundle that he is holding now warms his insides. Bulla is his little princess and he will treat her as such. And anyone who will stand in the way of that will not live to see another day.

Watch out world, here comes Vegeta, family man.

...

Thirty-five years fly by as if he had blinked them away. While turbulent and filled with many mortal enemies, Vegeta has let go of the endless desire to become the strongest being in the universe. All that he cares for now is keeping up with Kakarot.

Unfortunately he cannot dedicate himself fully. His children wouldn't mind; they know him well enough to not argue with his training schedule or his sudden bouts of absence. No, he is now forced to dial back on his training because of Bulma.

He loves the woman dearly and she knows this quite well. After Bulla had been born he had even voiced the words, very sporadically, in the privacy of their bedroom. This confession had brought them closer together and now he can't imagine a night without her by his side. Even after forty plus years he is still entranced by her. He doesn't care that her blue hair has gone gray and that she doesn't run around her lab anymore. She is still Bulma after all.

The problem is, though, that Bulma is losing herself with every passing day. Her age is catching up to her. That is not an issue that he has to face; even now that he is over eighty years old he still looks the same as he did fifty years ago. Time hadn't yet gotten him in its clutches. His children still look like young adults despite the fact that Bulla was turning on thirty-five.

Bulma is the only one who is actually slipping and it hurts Vegeta to watch her slide into that abyss. Waking up in the morning is growing harder. Not because he doesn't have the energy, but because he is losing his heart.

His eyes fly open at the crack of dawn. The birds don't get a chance to wake them with their songs. They usually sing the theme song for his morning coffee. After a quick cup of brew he heads out into his favourite contraption ever built and trains for an hour. He only considers it to be a warm up, but he has a wife to tend to so he can't train any more for a while.

Vegeta shakes Bulma awake as gently as he can. When she opens her eyes she smiles at him; here is her handsome husband, not a day over thirty. She delights in the stares that she receives when they walk with their arms linked together. She tells him this all the time because she keeps forgetting that he already knows.

"Hey hon," she says to him as she sits up, rubbing the last bits of sleep away with her knuckles as he throws open the curtains. "Did you sleep okay?"

"I slept fine," Vegeta answers, then leans in to kiss her. "Why don't you get dressed? I made coffee and breakfast."

She smiles some more. She's happy that she's managed to take this brute of a man and turn him into a father and a husband. Making coffee and breakfast, who would have ever thought? Vegeta can see these thoughts passing through her mind just by looking into her eyes, one of them now milky grey with cataract.

When Bulma moves to get dressed Vegeta stands in the corner of the room to observe her. More often than not she needs some guidance to make herself look presentable. She still knows everything there is to know about makeup and accessories and fabrics and patterns, but the concept of left and right elludes her now. As she does every morning, she puts the wrong sock on the wrong foot. Same with the shoes. Vegeta fixes the mess she makes of herself like he does every morning. Then he takes her by the arm and guides her downstairs for breakfast.

They talk about the little things in life as they eat. Bulma wants to shop for a new pair of shoes that afternoon. Vegeta doesn't shoot down her idea, but he wishes that she had remembered the idea from yesterday. He is going to have to come with her to make sure that she has everything she needs. She forgot her wallet last week and blamed it on the girl working behind the cash register at the supermarket. By the time that Vegeta had come to pick her up she had blown a full temper tantrum and was crying. She still had enough of a grasp on her mind to understand that she was slipping into dementia. The doctor had called it vascular dementia, words that meant nothing to Vegeta. All he knew was that Bulma would never really be Bulma again.

The day is filled with shopping for shoes and visiting the children. Vegeta has to steer Bulma throughout their adventure because she can no longer keep track of where they have and haven't been. The doctor had told Vegeta that this was totally normal and that he could slow down the process by reminding her constantly. He did so whenever he could.

He doesn't get another chance to train before Bulma is soundly asleep.

...

Three months later Bulma's dementia has taken a very severe slide downhill. As the doctor had explained to him, vascular dementia was possibly the most aggressive and fast developing forms of the disease. All that Vegeta can do is help slow things down, but even then she would deteriorate quickly.

He thanks the heavens that she still recognizes him. A never changing appearance had been of great help in that. Others aren't so lucky.

One day in August finds Bulma and Vegeta lounging in the summer sun. She is enjoying herself and hums along to the tunes coming from the portable radio on a table by their side. She is wrapped in blankets from head to toe because she is always feeling cold these days. He has to dress her every morning too, because she no longer understands how to pull the clothes on herself. There is a lot that she doesn't understand.

The sun disappears for a second or two and out from the sky comes their daughter Bulla. She is carrying a vase full of roses and gives them to Bulma right after greeting her. Bulma looks at the roses and smiles.

"Thank you miss," she says to her daughter. "I like them very much. Are you here to help me trim the hedges?"

Vegeta swallows the lump in his throat as he looks at his little princess trying to keep herself composed. Bulma stopped recognizing their children two weeks ago. She doesn't know who Bulla and Trunks are and whenever they do come over she mistakes them for maintenance men or gardeners. It made Bulla cry the first three times and even now she is holding back the tears.

Bulla nods her head and smiles at the confused heap of misery that used to be her mother. She seeks out her father's eyes, who only nods at her to let her know that it is alright. There is nothing they can do to help it any further.

His fierce mate is now his grey princess.

..

A month later his grey princess is dead. Her little shining light went out in her sleep. Vegeta is happy about this. That means that she didn't get to suffer when the time was ripe. He arranges the funeral and stands by the sides of his children as the casket is lowered into the ground. Bulla weeps against his shoulder and he strokes her beautiful blue hair. Hair that will remain blue for at least a hundred and fifty more years.

His grey princess is now gone, but he still has his blue one. And he is grateful for his grey lady, because she had showed him the meaning of his life. To be a family man.


End file.
